Since January 2000, the Physical Plant at ETSU has used a work-order system that has made life easier for university officials and department members with maintenance needs.
Bill Rasnick, associate vice president of the physical plant said the Internet-based system greatly reduces the time and effort needed for an order to be processed and completed.
The system uses Web-based software that can be accessed from a home personal computer. All that a student, faculty or staff member needs to do is access the Web site at www.etsu.edu/plant to submit an order.
“The Web-based work-order system has worked. The physical plant can provide the customer with better access to maintenance needs,” Rasnick said.
Prior to this system, the physical plant used a non-interactive database that generated a paperwork order.
This method was very basic and more inefficient than the present system.
Zone maintenance has also been implemented since the new work-order system was created. Because workers are assigned to specific zones around campus, work-order completion time and worker efficiency have greatly improved.
The zone concept has reduced the number of work orders from 12,000 to 7,000 a year. This has had a lot to do with routine zone checkups made on a regular basis. Each zone has certain jobs that need to be completed on a routine basis.
Over 100 people have been trained on the software. The process takes 30 minutes to complete. The building coordinators and workers who have been trained meet regularly to discuss problems with the system.

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